Shaman Tips

[Mankong]

Hey there. Was wanting some quick shaman tips for when I am solo; like, for example, when should I frenzy? Frenzy is so interesting that I kinda wanna use it a lot when I’m not casting.

Also, which weapons should I focus on? What are some good weapons and shields etc. going Barbarian.

[ajdes]

you probably wont really end up using frenzy at all as you will want mana for other things and shaman melee really starts to drop off in the late teens / twenties. I'd recommend grouping those levels.

You should be able to do the wolf fang quest in Halas to get a magic weapon. Screaming mace or something similar is probably a reasonable target after that.

You will also want to save up for a spyglass so you can canni dance starting at 24

[Sizar]

Don't nuke, like ever if you're soloing. Also using dot's is fairly mana inneficient at low levels. If you are like under level 34 or so, just use a cheap slow spell and melee down. Your heals are more efficient than nukes and dots. So that means find the best ratio weapon you can afford, 2hander preferably. Just keep up the necessary buffs, dont bother with crap like agility or dex. IMO the mana spent keeping up those buffs does not pay off. Would rather just use that mana for more heals or slows.

[Grakken]

Don't nuke, like ever if you're soloing. Also using dot's is fairly mana inneficient at low levels. If you are like under level 34 or so, just use a cheap slow spell and melee down. Your heals are more efficient than nukes and dots. So that means find the best ratio weapon you can afford, 2hander preferably. Just keep up the necessary buffs, dont bother with crap like agility or dex. IMO the mana spent keeping up those buffs does not pay off. Would rather just use that mana for more heals or slows.

I disagree. Different scenarios require different parts of your kit. I've found some of your best soloing is nuking.


People always remember shaman with twink gear or in their power spike. You don't have a lot of mana, so you to consider how to engage each mob. Envenomed breath (EB) is a 2.19 damage to mana ratio. Frost Strike (FS)is 1.37. Root is 40 mana. If you add the mana cost of Root to EB, it becomes 1.56. At 24+ you need to consider your HP as mana. You will kill a mob much faster Nuking vs root rotting. I've found the amount of incidental damage taken and cost of root at low levels Spam nuking to be more efficient than root rotting.

I was able to keep more mobs down in upper guk by Nuke spamming with my back to the wall, then I am with either Root Rotting or face tanking with a slow using melee/dots.

Same thing applied when I was soloing treants or hag tower.

This only changed when I got Doggo. He is a beast. He has soo much hp, does great dmg and his regen is insane. But, solo it is easy for him to take 50% xp if you let him tank with slow. So I only do this when I'm trying to take down a tough mob and don't care about xp.

Against a healer mob I root rot, as mobs don't heal themselves if they are rooted with nothing in melee range. Other mobs might heal them, but they don't heal themselves.

Against wizard types, nuke spam wins. You can generally two shot a wiz mob with nukes if they don't have rune up.

But yeah, never use frenzy, the idea might be cool but I've never found a scenario where the mana drain was worth it. I wouldn't focus on weapon/shield. Shaman are great tanks to 20. You have amazing aggro using drowsy on every mob and good enough mitigation. But, this strat falls off hard. Play a knight or Ranger if you wanna melee with good aggro.

[Sizar]

Ehhh, I probably just play it safer personally. I would prefer to have a longer fight but have more resources (health / mana) at the end of it then go on to the next with less downtime than kill something quicker and have more mana regen time. I understand there are situations where maybe you wanna blast it down faster like if facing a caster or whatever. Root rotting really shouldnt be an option until you have both canni and regen.

[Grakken]

Ehhh, I probably just play it safer personally. I would prefer to have a longer fight but have more resources (health / mana) at the end of it then go on to the next with less downtime than kill something quicker and have more mana regen time. I understand there are situations where maybe you wanna blast it down faster like if facing a caster or whatever. Root rotting really shouldnt be an option until you have both canni and regen.

I actually agree with your desire just disagree on how to get there. Around that level, you'll end up with more resources spam nuking than slowing and meleeing. Unless mob is Green. Slow costs too much mana, as does healing. I found I'd end the fight with more resources nuke spamming then face tanking with a slow. AND it was faster.

Once you get to 20+ content, mobs hit too hard and shaman melee dps- relative to mob HP pool - drops hard. I'm 45 now, I melee for 2 more damage a swing than I did at 12. But I nuke 25 times harder.

[Tecmos Deception]

Fwiw, my sham is 37 now on green and I've primarily leveled solo by: disease dot, slow, poison dot, melee. Depending on the exact hp of mobs and damage they do to me and resists, I'd add in another poison dot or a nuke, perhaps staying in melee or perhaps rooting to med for several ticks while dots tick.

Any of that has seemed pretty similar to me. Nukes are good vs casters but probably poor vs melee enemies unless it'll hit them down into fleeing range so you can med while dots/pet finish then off. Roots stick pretty well against blues as long as they aren't like -1 (or -2/-3 at higher levels like 20+), and REALLY well with malaise on.

This comes from me using banded by the teens + bloodforged hammer, buffing my AC and STR and regen as able.

Since 34 I still mix like 50/50 tanking with melee vs root and medding while pet tanks. Melee can seem unimpressive when you whiff 6 swings in a row at 5 second delay, but I also can hit for nearly 40 now, and it's nice to take some hits sometimes so my pet doesn't have to tank something from 100-0.

Lower blues will barely scratch you most of the time in melee, so it's close whether your unimpressive melee damage is more efficient than roots+medding for more spell damage. Maybe the next session I have ill try playing with 0 melee to see how it works though, and ill add a post to the thread then.


Based on a thread I made earlier and chats with players ingame (admittedly I don't talk to a lot of different people ingame), my shaman soloing is not faster than grouping overall, though it's equal to or better than a bad group.

I solo mainly because it's always at my pace, which I prioritize over faster exp. Afk when I want, log in and out as I want, fighting in locations that are quiet so there's no waiting lists or other people taking your mobs. I always have friends list and/or guild to chat with if I want to even without a group.

[Mankong]

But yeah, never use frenzy, the idea might be cool but I've never found a scenario where the mana drain was worth it. I wouldn't focus on weapon/shield. Shaman are great tanks to 20. You have amazing aggro using drowsy on every mob and good enough mitigation. But, this strat falls off hard. Play a knight or Ranger if you wanna melee with good aggro.

You are probably right on that last part. Ranger seems more up my alley because I want to go melee and casting. :(

Thank you all for your help, I'll keep this pinned for later use.

[DMN]

I'd have to wonder if it would ever be worth meleeing post venom of the snake since all those HP lost could have been converted to mana. it's not like people have PWCs or GFGs here or anythiing.

[BlackBellamy]

Lower blues will barely scratch you most of the time in melee, so it's close whether your unimpressive melee damage is more efficient than roots+medding for more spell damage. Maybe the next session I have ill try playing with 0 melee to see how it works though, and ill add a post to the thread then.


When I played my shaman back in the day I stopped melee altogether in my teens. I just couldn't stand listening to that swish; it was psychologically damaging. Until I got my pet and soloing was fun again I would just rent a pair of fists by having every near-level monk on the friends list and I would just /follow them from mob to mob as their personal buffer.

[Tecmos Deception]

When I played my shaman back in the day I stopped melee altogether in my teens. I just couldn't stand listening to that swish; it was psychologically damaging. Until I got my pet and soloing was fun again I would just rent a pair of fists by having every near-level monk on the friends list and I would just /follow them from mob to mob as their personal buffer.

At lower levels, I spent a fair amount of time in melee because it was easy to throw a drowsy for cheap-but-minimal slowing, disease dot, poison dot, then melee for at least a while. Maybe I do so until poison needs refresh, then root, back off, med for the rest of the kill. Maybe I get lucky with melee and kill it without getting beat up or needing more mana spent. Maybe it is crushing my troll ass and I have to root and use spells for the whole fight. I saw all of it.

Getting pet at 34 is far from a "well no point in meleeing now!" moment, imo. Your pet is mana-free DPS, right? Well, kinda. If he is tanking, he often is going to get killed unless you're using your highest-level slow. And that slow is expensive. Plus you need to be rooting to keep aggro on him. Or you'll be pulling him off and relying on dot recasts to finish the mob off, and those recasts will quite likely break roots needing recasts and maybe getting you swatted and then getting your pet on the target again... etc. The wolfie does regen fast though, so if he doesn't die, he'll probably be full life by the time you're ready for another mob.

But compare that to casting maybe walking sleep just for some slow but at much lower mana cost, your two dots, and meleeing while your pet attacks from behind (therefore doing somewhat more damage than it would when attacking a mob it is tanking). You're not medding, you're losing hp to melee damage that can't be canni'd, but you're getting more damage from your pet and damage from your melee and you're not using as much mana on slow or roots. You still can root once at 60 or 50% if you want and back off to med until the mob is down low enough when root wears off that it starts running and your pet isn't horribly wounded. Or maybe you're having a good fight as sometimes happens and you don't need a second poison dot, you barely get scratched, at the mob is dead.

They're a wash to me still at 37 fighting level 30s, ime. Maybe it'll change at 39 when I've got VOTS to use instead of EB.

[MasterCS]

To jump in on the shaman tips, what is a magic weapon I could easily obtain (quest or purchase) at lvl 12?

[Baler]

Be prepared for many, many tells
Setup a canni routine. click 1 click 2.

[zodium]

To jump in on the shaman tips, what is a magic weapon I could easily obtain (quest or purchase) at lvl 12?

bloodforge hammer

[Vizax_Xaziv]

I just couldn't stand listening to that swish

Agreed! I can't stand listening to Swish either!

[Arogarn]

To jump in on the shaman tips, what is a magic weapon I could easily obtain (quest or purchase) at lvl 12?


https://wiki.project1999.com/The_Emissary

5/31 magic spear with +4 strength. Basically just a cracked staff but it only requires killing a level 9 warrior 'troll slayer' in innothule.

[greenspectre]

To jump in on the shaman tips, what is a magic weapon I could easily obtain (quest or purchase) at lvl 12?

If you're on teal any anywhere near Faydwer, I have a Bloodforge Hammer i'd sell ya for 10pp... I'd still be using it if I hadn't gotten my Testament of Vanear already. Shoot Lobnor a tell if ya see him on.

[Mankong]

Later is now. This will be my class, for JUSTICE.

I'll just melee recreationally whilst maining this lovely class. <3

[Mankong]

I'll level up blacksmithing so I can make the barbarian cultural armor. Love the mail model on Barbs.

[greenspectre]

I'll level up blacksmithing so I can make the barbarian cultural armor. Love the mail model on Barbs.

Unfortunately Northman Ringmail won't be in until Kunark :/ otherwise I'd be in a suit right now.

[Mankong]

Unfortunately Northman Ringmail won't be in until Kunark :/ otherwise I'd be in a suit right now.

Well shoot. Rip my ringmail dreams. :(

[greenspectre]

Well shoot. Rip my ringmail dreams. :(

Seriously, man. It's a struggle for WIS gear of any kind. Dinged 20 yesterday, and the only WIS gear I have is Prayer Cloth of Tunare, Testament of Vanear, and jasper rings/earrings, and I consider myself lucky. The rest is full banded. If I'm lucky, I'll have a Bloodstained Tunic and a Dull Wooden Spear by the time I'm 30.

[Ashenden]

If you hate yourself as much as I do, a great strategy is to joust the mobs using Bloodforge Hammer at the early levels. No need to slow if you run away for four seconds, turn and exchange one melee with it, then continue running. Dots tick for full on moving enemies so you can keep that up by running a bit further away to get a refresh off.

Strafe run til 9, then be lazy with Sow. If you do it near water you can also keep your swimming maxed by running along the shore while you kill.

[greenspectre]

If you hate yourself as much as I do, a great strategy is to joust the mobs using Bloodforge Hammer at the early levels. No need to slow if you run away for four seconds, turn and exchange one melee with it, then continue running. Dots tick for full on moving enemies so you can keep that up by running a bit further away to get a refresh off.

Strafe run til 9, then be lazy with Sow. If you do it near water you can also keep your swimming maxed by running along the shore while you kill.

SoW kiting is definitely a thing. I used to kill yellow-con wisps in Erud's Xing just by doing that, without any jousting component. You'd be surprised how efficient Sicken can be when you let it tick for the full damage.

[Scoojitsu]

Dots tick for full on moving enemies

And I always thought dots only hit full on rooted or still standing enemies. :confused:
Has that been changed?
Or is it a classic EQ mechanic that will be patched in the future?

[Jimjam]

I remember nuking alot against thenice goblins in permafrost when I started them. It was a long time ago, but it was on a self made shaman on blue so it is roughly analagous to green. If i recall i'd root the mob at the zone in, which would aggro the next one. I'd then poison twice while meleeing and throwing in enough nukes so the mob would die just as the second poison wore off. I'd then kill the original mob or zone to reset, either way that was the zone in broken.

At 29 you get befriend animal and invis, which you can use to spawn/find a large dire wolf, tash/root it, invis to a safespot bear your camp, wait for root to break and the wolf to come to you (goblins are on a different faction) and now you have a bawling level 24 wolf pet to help you xp.

[Danth]

And I always thought dots only hit full on rooted or still standing enemies. :confused:
Has that been changed?
Or is it a classic EQ mechanic that will be patched in the future?

It's an era-specific change that's patched to the usual system later on. I forget exactly when it happens according to the timeline right now, but on P1999 it was patched in 2011.

Danth